An outdoor lighting system, such as a roadway/outdoor lighting system, includes one or more lighting fixtures, each fixture typically providing illumination to surroundings within close proximity thereof. The lighting fixtures can be found along the streets and street corners, and at roadway intersections. The lighting fixtures also provide visibility during nighttime hours for security and safety purposes.
The lighting fixtures are disposed near roadway intersections to enable pedestrian traffic and vehicle traffic to safely navigate the roadway after hours and in low lit areas.
The lighting fixtures are typically mounted on street poles as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 includes a roadway outdoor lighting system 50, including a pole 10, a mast arm 20 connected to the pole 10 at a proximal end. Also, included is a lighting fixture 30 physically coupled to a distal and of the mast arm 20. The roadway outdoor lighting system 50 is typically disposed in the ground at a bottom of the pole 10.
The mast arm 20 includes electrical wiring for connecting and energizing the lighting fixture via a utility grid. The lighting fixture 30 typically includes a lighting device 32 and a connector 40 (e.g., a NEMA® socket) at a top surface thereof for connecting to a photocell. The photocell is mounted on the lighting fixture 30 for automatic activation of light from the lighting fixture during reduced lighting conditions.
The poles of the roadway/street lighting systems are increasingly being used to perform other functions, in addition to providing lighting. Thus, non-lighting related devices (e.g., cameras) are being mounted to the poles to collect information such as traffic and weather conditions to monitor and improve traffic flow
The addition of non-lighting related devices can cause problems with altering the components within the pole and the mast arm. This is especially true when creating power and data connections between these devices and the pole and/or the lighting device. In these instances, the integrity of the structure of the roadway outdoor lighting system can be compromised.